Pickpear thinks for a moment, and calculates; "About three seconds. It's not long, I know. I didn't even move before it closed the first time... but picking the lock and running the gambit is hard..."
Emerald grinned. "Well, there's three of us now!" "One of us unlocks the door, once of us dashes through, and the other...just kind of stands there and looks pretty. Maybe if Daring Do comes by, she could bop her on the head."
Perfect Melopdy tapped her chin. "Pickpear holds it open, you go on in and if I spot Daring Do give her a bonk on the head!" She giggled a bit.
She smiled lightly and nodded. "Okay. Let me know when you're ready, and... I'll open the lock." She affirmed, looking over at Emerald.
Silver was immediately curious as to what could be over at that stand. "Hay, what about this one?" he said to Throw and Arc as he approached the stand.
The merchant noticed Silver approaching the Varda. His ice blue eyes drifted up from under the hood and he stared at the silver pony with a grin while still holding a side conversation with one of his customers. "Yes, gems taken from the mining quarries around Ponyville. Not as beautiful as you my dear, of course, but there are few gems which could match you. Perhaps one of the Andalusian Sapphires would be more your style?" The older mare giggles with a blush and waves a hoof. "Such a charmer, dear. How much are they?" He chuckles lightly and grins. "For this next few days I'll have them on sale. Just 1200 bits a piece. For such legendary glimmer, it is a steal! Though... I've only a few more left."
Silver's ears swivelled toward the merchent. Those were what Eight Star had asked him to get, weren't they? But...he definitely didn't have that much money. Of course, money wasn't the only way to buy things. Silver walked up to the pony and waited politely until he was finished talking. "Excuse me," he asked, "But I was wondering if you would be willing to make a deal with me. Perhaps I could do you a favor in exchange for one of those gems there?" Silver purposely avoided naming a specific chore, item or amount of money. This merchant looked like he knew what he was doing, and that usually meant he wouldn't get such a good deal. But he wasn't born yesterday; obviously if he made it look like he was poor, the merchant would blow him off as somepony he couldn't make a profit from, but if he looked rich then the price would skyrocket. At least it wouldn't be going higher than 1200 bits, as he'd already offered that price to another customer...
Group 1 Emerald kicked her back hooves, stretching them out. Then she crouched down and fluttered her wings a few times. She gave Pickpear a hard stare, then turned her gaze toward the doors. "Alright, Pickpear. I'm ready." She blew a stray hair from her face, praparing herself to shoot through the doors as soon as they opened.
Group One Pickpear nodded, and swallowed hard. Her horn glowed brightly as she turned to the lock. The insides of the keyhole glowed with the same white color as her horn and after a few moments the click was heard. The walls moved out to the side with a loud rumbling and a shuddering thud. Spoiler: Emerald Whirl Dash! Rolled 9, add 4 Speed = 13 The thuds were quite unexpected and Emerald ended up jumping at the sound. Only after recovering she dashed forward and found herself shut in between the first separation! The walls slid back at an amazing speed, and rather than risk injury, she had to cut short before it shut on her. Inside of the first seperation she could see the openings at the top of either side. The wall before her was smooth stone, while the wall behind her was jagged and full of hoof-holds. There were openings at the tops that a pony could scramble through if they climbed up. Group Two The merchant gives a sly grin at Silver. "Ahh, you've a good eye for quality, sir. By the look of you, you're not a peasant from here, and you're certaintly not higher class. You must be... an adventurer, aren't you?" He smiles fully with a handsome grin, one that attracts the gaze of the mares around him. "Now, I have to ask... how far would you go to have one of these?"
Emerald sighed. Well. That was to be expected... Rather than tire out her wings flying up to the hole, she climbed up the hoofholds and tried to make her way back to her companions to...try again.
Zephyr shook his head as he came out of daze. For the past few moments of trials and exercises he had been distracted by the thoughts and fantasies of further adventure as the previous puzzle of singing had failed to hold his interest long enough for him to even utter a mumble towards it. In hindsight, it may have been an interesting misadventure to sing a tune to it and see it respond in a similar fashion. Perhaps there would have been a chance of forming a barbershop quartet with the odd device and going on the road to fame. There were a few problems with this however, one of them being that he had no clue how to sing well enough, another being that there would have only been 2 singers, 3 if Perfect decided to tag along, another being that they'd all have to learn to cut hair, and the final being that nobody even likes Barbershop Quartets. The ingrates. He ceased staring blankly at the wall in front of him, of which he had no clue how he had even gotten there through his mindless wanderings, and looked over at Emerald as she climbed up breathing heavier than usual. "What's up with her? Wait, what's even going on?
"Hmmm." Silver didn't know the surrounding area, nor did he know something specific the merchant would desire (aside from the obvious "money"). How could he do this right...? No, he really didn't know what the merchant's asking price would be. He didn't have time for menial chores, he doubted that would impress the merchant, and that wasn't his sort of thing anyhoof. But he couldn't just promise him a random artifact (he didn't even know if he would find one of low value, much less a priceless one), nor could he give some sort of stuffed monster, since he had no idea what they would be fighting. Looked like the only option was to... "Perhaps you could give me some examples of tasks I might perform?"
Arc approaches from behind, looking at the stones on the Merchants counter. He'd picked up a little bit of the conversation. At least, enough to have a vague idea of what was happening. "What would you need these things for?" He said, looking over Silver's shoulder.
If Silver had been in an Anime cartoon, a large drop of sweat would have appeared next to his forehead. Thankfully he wasn't, and if that actually had happened he probably would have freaked out. Anyhow, he turned around and said, "Well, Eight Star said if we found one, he'd like us to bring it back for him. Of course," he said, making sure the merchant could hear him but (hopefully) not obviously, "we really don't need one. He merely suggested it."
Throw facehoofed. "Do we actually gain any extra reward for this?" He asked. "Seems a bit far-fetched to want a random gem. How much is it worth to him...?"
Silver raised an eyebrow at Throw. "Fine. If you don't want to make Eight Star happy, then let's go." He started walking toward the shop Throw had indicated: Prints and Spellers. They didn't sound like they'd have many spellbooks, but it was the only location he could find ANY books at the moment. Plus, he was only half serious about not getting the gem. The other half was bluffing both Throw and the merchant with the same move.
Throw Down kicked his hoof nervously in the dirt. "Well, does he really need it?" He asked. "I mean...actually, I suppose, we have nothing else to do..." Throw snorted in defeat. If any of them pissed off Eight Star, they would likely have more problems than haggling a merchant for a gem. "Fine, but I don't have the money to afford one of those."
Silver turned around, rolling his eyes in the process, and said (with exaggerated slow-ness): "Yes. That would be why I was asking this generous merchant pony if he would be willing to accept a quest, of sorts, as payment."
Emerald had just happened to make her way back to the room in time to hear Perfect Melody explain what happened. As she flopped down in the floor, she quipped, "I always thought I'd make a better earth pony... This proves it." She glanced up at the other pegasus. "Care to give it a shot, Zephyr?" She then let her head fall to the floor, as she was completely winded.
